


We Could Be Heroes

by GhostGrantaire



Series: Stancy Week 2017 [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 17:57:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10859136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostGrantaire/pseuds/GhostGrantaire
Summary: “Alright, Dungeons & Dragons.  Let’s do this.”





	We Could Be Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Gold/Brave." This is a _very_ loose interpretation of this prompt... The focus is definitely on Steve + the boys rather than stancy.  
>  Also yes, this entire thing is one long Freaks & Geeks reference.

Mike wouldn’t stop glaring at him.

Steve had stared down his friends, his parents, even a goddamn monster at one point, but for some reason, being stared down by his girlfriend’s twelve-year-old kid brother was one of the most unnerving experiences of his life.

“Are you sure about this?” Steve muttered under his breath to Nancy as the boys bickered amongst themselves.

“Mike said he was okay with it, so he is. It’ll be fun, I promise.” Nancy’s voice was calm and reassuring. “Do it for me?”

He raised his eyebrows at her, but she just sent that small, bright-eyed smile back at him, and it didn’t take long before he gave in. It wasn’t like he really had a choice– he’d do anything for her. He knew that by now.

“If Mike’s cool with it, than so am I,” he agreed. She grinned at him, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before dragging him over to the table and sitting him down.

The boys quieted down and looked at him, as if expecting him to suddenly yell “just kidding!” but he didn’t.

Instead he leaned forward. “Alright, Dungeons & Dragons. Let’s do this.”

*******

“You can’t be a ninja, that’s not a thing,” Lucas argued. Steve flopped back in his chair dramatically.

“It should be,” he complained. Will and Dustin cracked smiles at that, but Mike still looked annoyed. Steve reprimanded himself internally and sat up straighter, looking at the boy.

“What do you think I should be, Mike? Since you’re Dungeon Master or whatever.” He kept his voice light and genuine, hoping Mike would respond positively to it.

Mike looked caught off guard at the question. He frowned, looking down and shrugging. “I don’t know,” he muttered. Steve felt slightly disappointed at that, but Will spoke up after a second.

“How about a Fighter? You’d be good at that,” Will said confidently. Lucas shrugged in agreement beside him, and Dustin nodded as well. He figured they knew what they were talking about, so he shrugged.

“Sounds good to me,” he agreed.

“Okay, so you’re a human fighter, and you already rolled for your ability scores, so now you just need a name,” Dustin explained. “So Steve the…”

He faded off, waiting for Steve to fill in the blank, but Steve just frowned.

“Does it have to be Steve? Can’t it be like, Carlos or some shit?” Steve asked, frowning at the board. Nancy chuckled from behind him, but the boys looked unimpressed.

“If you’re gonna play with us, you have to use our rules. We keep our own names,” Mike said firmly, leaving no room for debate.

Steve sighed, turning the little dude over in his hand. “Fine. I’ll be… Steve the Superhero.”

“That’s stupid,” Mike shot back.

“Steve the Strong?” he tried, but they frowned.

“You have a really low strength score, that would be kinda weird,” Lucas explained, raising his eyebrows. 

Nancy laughed and kissed Steve on the cheek. “Steve the Savior, how about that?”

He looked at her with a smile. He wanted to kiss her for that, but Mike was already making a disgusted face, and he really didn’t want to push his luck.

“Are you going to play, or just throw heart eyes at my sister all night?” Mike asked, making the other boys laugh. Nancy threw her brother a look, but Steve did feel a bit bad, so he turned back to the board.

“You sure you don’t want to play, Nancy?” Dustin asked as Nancy pulled up a chair to sit behind Steve.

Nancy shook her head with a smile, resting her head on Steve’s shoulder so she could see the table. “Nah, I’ll just help Steve figure it out. He’s gonna need help.”

Steve shot her an offended look at that, chuckling when she raised her eyebrows in response. “Alright, so how does this start?”

Mike gave a long suffering sigh, but still leaned forward and began to explain the rules to the game and the goals of the campaign.

******

Even after listening to all the rules, Steve really didn’t know what he was doing. This game was way more complicated than he thought it would be, and several times he found himself wondering what the hell had happened in his life to lead him to play a fantasy board game with four pre-teen boys on a Friday night. He remembered all the times when he was younger that he’d made fun of kids for playing this. He’d always thought it was so pathetic to be so desperate to escape reality like this.

But now, as the game went on, he finally felt like he got it. He finally figured out why people enjoyed getting to be someone they couldn’t be in reality. He thought of all the mistakes he’d made in his own life, all the cowardly things he’d done, things that “Steve the Savior” would never do. It was like a fresh start, and Steve understood why four nerdy middle schoolers who he knew had their fair share of bullies would want something like that.

When Steve the Savior killed his first monster, he found himself cheering with the other boys and Nancy. As they waited for him to make the next move, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

“Sort of a different feeling when you’ve already fought one in real life, huh?” he asked Nancy quietly, who nodded in response, looking thoughtful but still amused.

The boys warmed up to Steve slowly. Nancy helped a lot, keeping him focused and cracking lighthearted jokes to lighten the tension anytime things felt weird. And after a while, Steve found himself enjoying the night.

At one point, Nancy stood in for the non-playable princess, putting on a long blond wig and gold crown for fun. When Steve the Savior had to rescue her from a monster, he stood up and swept her off her feet, jogging around the basement while the boys cracked up in the background. Nancy demanded he put her down, but she also kissed his cheek and called him her “brave, brave, knight.” As ridiculous as it was, Steve kind of liked that title.

By 10:00, the game was nearing an end, and Steve was feeling fantastic. Nancy had gone upstairs about half an hour earlier to spend time with her mom, and Steve had been nervous at first about being there without her, but it had gone great. Mike seemed too lost in the game to remember that him and Steve weren’t friends, which honestly worked for Steve.

“The dragon lashes out with his tail again, but Steve the Savior dodges out of the way just in time, and the dragon falls to the pits of the canyon, roaring out in agony.” Mike recites the words dramatically. The boys let out a loud cheer at the news, and Steve throws a fist in the air in victory. “He helps Dustin the Destroyer out of his trap, and they make their way to the party, victorious.”

The boys jump up, high-fiving and hugging happily as Steve grins widely at them all. After a moment, the cheers died down, and Mike stands up, his face going neutral.

“Well,” Mike started, his face carefully blank as he looked around at all of them. His gaze landed on Steve, who felt immediately nervous again. Mike grins at last. “Congratulations Steve, you just finished your first D&D campaign.”

“Hell yeah!” Steve exclaimed, and the other boys clapped, grinning over at him. He stood up and bowed dramatically, making them laugh again.

“That was awesome,” Lucas spoke up, a huge grin on his face.

“Yeah, it was.” Steve answered back, feeling strangely sincere. He took a deep breath, looking down at the game board fondly. “I’m gonna go grab another soda, you guys want anything? Dustin, Will?”

He looked around at all of them individually, but they all shook their heads. Steve bounded up the stairs, eager to tell Nancy how well it had gone. He was halfway through the door when he heard the boys talking, and he paused slightly to listen.

“He’s cool,” Dustin remarked, his voice quiet enough to imply that he was trying to whisper, but he wasn’t succeeding.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Mike responded back, and Steve couldn’t help but grin.

Mission complete.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading about D&D by someone who doesn't know anything about D&D. I did try to do my research though and keep it historically accurate, so it's all written pertaining to the 1983 edition. 
> 
> Come talk to me on [tumblr](http://www.ghost-grantaire.tumblr.com)!


End file.
